Authorities in Tennessee have dropped a felony charge against Larry Bushart, who was jailed for more than a month due to a Facebook post he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
This incident stands out, as many individuals across the U.S. have faced job losses over social media comments regarding Kirk's death, but Bushart's situation resulted in criminal prosecution.
His arrest, stemming from a charge of threatening mass violence at a school, alarmed free speech advocates. They argued that Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems targeted Bushart due to his political views. Bushart was released Wednesday after prosecutors opted to dismiss the charge.
A 61-year-old former law enforcement officer, Bushart had been sharing various memes on Facebook that poked fun at Kirk’s killing, including one meme featuring President Donald Trump with the words, “We have to get over it.” The meme referenced a quote from Trump after the school shooting at Iowa’s Perry High School.
Despite the sheriff claiming that most of Bushart's memes were lawful free speech, there was considerable concern in the community due to the post about the school shooting. Weems stated that although he was aware the meme referred to an incident in Iowa, local residents perceived it as a threat to Perry County High School.
“Investigators believe Bushart was fully aware of the fear his post would cause and intentionally sought to create hysteria within the community,” said Weems in a statement to The Tennessean last month.
Bushart was arrested after he refused to delete the post, with his bail set at $2 million. He spent more than five weeks in jail before charges were ultimately dropped. Neither Weems nor local district attorney Hans Schwendimann provided comments on the dismissal's rationale.
Post-release, Bushart expressed his happiness at returning home and remarked, “I didn’t seek to be a media sensation, but here we are.”
